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Eero iPhone Connectivity Issues

Hello, 

I have not yet purchased an Eero system yet; I am in the research stages deciding between Google Wifi, Orbi, Luma, Unify mesh, Amplifi, and Velop. 

I have seen many reviews and threads in forums in regards to Apple IOS devices failing to 'roam' between APs, or randomly dropping connections, or staying connected to the furthest AP rather than switching to the closest one. 

A couple years back I set up a $1000 Cisco Meraki AP for my home network. After countless issue with our iPhones and iPads not being able to connect, not seeing the SSIDs, and randomly dropping connections I switched back to my $100 Asus router, which has superior performance (for Apple devices) to the enterprise grade AP. I am looking for a modern WiFi solution to power all of our devices, including many Apple devices.

In any case, it seams Apple devices always have issues with WiFi, I am looking for a solid solution to this, I thought Eero was the winner until I started reading it also has the same issues with Apple. I have read that people have open cases with Eero regarding this, but it's still a known issue. 

At my office we have a ton of Enterprise Cisco APs, in which iPhones can seamlessly roam between without loosing a video call. Obviously at the price point of Eero we cannot expect enterprise grade features, but I am looking for some input if others are having this issue with their iPhones on Eero, and what support / development teams are doing to solve this issue? 

One other item of interest is outdoor WiFi coverage. With other mesh WiFi options on the market; outdoor weather resistant APs are offered. Does Eero have any intentions or future plans to offer the addition of outdoor APs to the mesh network? 

Thanks in advance. 

252 replies

    • scooby
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    My 30 day return period is quickly approaching and I am experiencing similar issues with iOS devices. Can someone from Eero comment on the status of this please?

    • eero Community Manager
    • Jeff_C
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Official response
    • Reported - view

    Hi everyone -

    Thanks again to everyone who has reached out to support. We greatly appreciate your patience and cooperation.

    This is something we are continuing to look into. Unfortunately, it isn't an issue that affects all networks or devices (for example, it doesn't happen on all iPhone 7's on the same network), which makes it difficult to reproduce. If you haven't updated your network to eero OS 3.3 yet, please do so at your convenience and see if it helps in resolving this matter.

    To update your network, take the following steps:

    1. Open the eero app
    2. Tap on the menu button
    3. Tap on Network Settings
    4. Scroll to Network software and tap on "Update available"

    Again, we greatly appreciate everyone taking the time to reach out. 

      • bdplatt
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. It hasn't. Been reporting issues since upgrade to 3.3 all week.

    • Armydoc214
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I wonder if this has anything to do with WiFi calling on the iPhones?  I may try turning that off to see if anything improves. None of the other WiFi devices have any problems jumping from AP to AP. It’s ALL the iPhones on the network that have WiFi calling enabled. 

      • Gravity Brings Me Down...
      • stevebaker
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Armydoc214 That could certainly be a contributing factor! However I am not using Wifi calling on my phone (iPhone 7+, iOS 11 PB 9) and I do encounter this problem, perhaps once a day (definitely not very often, but enough that I know to turn off and back on wifi, which always relieves the symptoms). Oddly enough, the problem does not appear to happen on my wife's phone (iPhone 6S, iOS 10.3.3).

    • FlipABit
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Given the latest reply from Jeff, it sounds like I'll be putting my eero's back in their box and hoping some sort of progress is made before my 30 window is up (yes, I've been on the latest firmware). I'm rooting for eero, as a company and as a product, but what was promised as the end all be all of wifi solutions ended up being the ultimate exercise in patience and frustration on a level I've never dealt with in a wifi system.

    I do find it a little confusing that it seems hard to reproduce for the eero team when a) they know the cause (iOS update that patched the broadcom chip) and b) I was able to observe it on nearly a half a dozen iOS devices within minutes of setting it up out of the box. At this point it just sounds like we're getting "works for me! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯". I know the engineers are working hard, it just doesn't _sound_ like any progess is being made since finding the cause.

    I'll certainly check back, and hope the product restores the reliability it once seemed to have, but until then it's back to a good old fashioned router for me.

    • adammiarka
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Even with the latest eero firmware (3.3.0-350) and iOS 11 beta 9, I was still having the issue of the WiFi stack "crashing" every once in a while, which required a manual toggle of the WiFi setting in control center to get it back on track.  

    Installed the latest iOS 11 beta 10 yesterday, and since then, I have not had any issues.   Seems like progress is being made on both sides.  Will keep an eye on it, but so far so good. 

      • hcubell
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      I have had an Eero network with 4 first gen devices set up in my home for well over a year, and it had performed pretty much without incident. Starting about 4 or 5 weeks my iPad Pro has constantly experienced drop outs of the wifi connection. My wife's and son's iPads did not experience these issues, even when physically next to each other. I am not talking about occasional dropouts. Constant. I had to regularly turn wifi on and off and on and off. I then decided that the problem was with my iPad, so I had apple replace my iPad. Brand new iPad Pro. Same issues!!!This is ridiculous. 

      • wonhyuk1
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      hcubell I Also had 3 Gen 1 that i got a few months back with no problems (amazon echo, ipad pro, Dell laptop, google pixel xl, google nexus), then 3-4 weeks ago, my Google Pixel wouldn't authenticate. it was the only device, so i updated it to Android 8. Still wouldn't authenticate. I have an old iPhone 5s that i fired up and it also won't authenticate either. Last night my relative couldn't get a Lenovo (she got this couple months ago) to authenticate...amazon echo, ipad pro, dell laptop, and nexus still working fine. 

      I realize this is mostly about Apple products having the issue and I see it too with my iPhone 5s and wanted to add (in case support is reading this) that it's also a problem with non-Apple products as well.

      I submitted another support request last night but no response as yet. I get the feeling that the firmware upgrade is causing more issues...

    • afx114
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    The Reddit thread at https://www.reddit.com/r/eero/comments/6x49u1/eeroosv330350_out/dmnz6c3/ suggested disabling IGMP Snooping on any managed network switches. I found a few other (unrelated) threads that recommend this as well. I have one (TP-LINK TL-SG108E-V2) between my Gateway Eero and another wired Eero, so I have disabled IGMP Snooping on it and will see how it goes.

    Does anyone else with these issues have a switch on their network with IGPM Snooping enabled?  If so, disable IGMP Snooping and see if that helps.

      • mattv123
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      afx114 no, the issue happens even when the eero gear is interconnected wirelessly. The problem appears to be between the iOS device and the eero ap(s)

      • afx114
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      mattv123 Yeah after a few days of running with IGMP Snooping disabled, it doesn't seem to have helped.  In fact, it may have made it slightly worse.  Bummer, was really hoping this would have worked.  😢

    • miamojo
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Same issue here, especially bad with ios 11, beta 10. I decided to return the eero and get the Orbi, then decided to search for "iOS connectivity Orbi" only to find that there are many Orbi owners facing the same problems. Just got this email back from eero customer service:

    "'I've gotten quite a bit of information about your iOS devices and tossed it up to our tech specialists.  At the moment we don't have an ETA on when we might have a fix available for you.  As I'm not sure how long it will take I don't want you to keep the product until you can no longer return it.  I greatly apologize that we don't have anything more concrete to tell you just yet.  I just wanted to keep you as informed as I could so that you could at least make an informed decision."

      • FlipABit
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      miamojo Good to know. At least that's honest, useful information, even if it's not what we want to hear. I guess I'll be returning mine as well and will revisit eero a other time if I haven't already gone with another product.

    • mattv123
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I spent some time finding threads that seem to complaining about the same thing with all mesh network manufacturers:

    I am going to place my bets that this is an iOS issue pertaining to device roaming.  I think this is a globally impacting issue to Eero customers, but only a "small group" of people are complaining due to:

    • Everyone having different physical environments, impacting signal strength and interference levels.  Whatever is going on may only occur in some environments and not others.  iOS roaming behavior is driven pretty much exclusively by signal strength/weakness and frequency noise.
    • Different iPhone and Eero hardware/software mixes that behave differently in those variable environments.
    • Different tolerances for pain / suffering in silence.  I bet there are tons of people out there that are just blaming Comcast/their ISP or Apple for these issues, and that feedback isn't coming back around to Eero support or this forum.

    I'm further going to venture a guess that this issue isn't rooted in the Broadcom crashing issue as I originally pointed out above, but is an effect that is a result of wireless vendors interoperability with iOS's WiFi roaming mechanisms.

    I believe this is the case because enterprise WLAN providers like Cisco, Aruba, Meraki, and Unifi simply do not have these problems today using the exact same iOS device, but all the "new guys" to Wi-Fi roaming are learning the ropes like these enterprise-class vendors had to.  Looking at more recent WiFi roaming tech notes from Apple, it is clear there are multiple standards for Wi-Fi vendors to juggle, some of which appear to be co-developed with Cisco (Apple's exclusive enterprise networking partner).  (PS, there is a feature with Airport Utility and WiFi signal strengths I didn't know you could access at the bottom of this tech doc)

    So I think the bottom line is: this is the price you pay for being bleeding edge when vendors are trying to adopt enterprise-level features into consumer grade solutions 😫.  I have no doubt they'll get it nailed (their existence depends on it!), but us early adopters suffer in the mean time.  Our role is to keep raising tickets and providing help where possible to encourage the prioritization of these fixes over the sexy new features that the market generally demands.

    That said, I'd love nothing more than to be proven wrong with an iOS 11 or eero release that fixes it all 🙌

      • miamojo
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      mattv123 I totally agree, especially with your point about pain tolerance. Everyone in my house uses iOS devices with the same issue and only my 7-year old and I complain. We have Xfinity and are used to outages, but maybe once a day for a few minutes. At this point, when I am using something that needs a constant refresh, I need to toggle my WiFi signal as much as every two minutes. Not always, sometimes it’s ok for a solid half hour stretch but that’s uncommon.

      I did so much research before choosing the eero and after experiencing this issue, had decided that the Orbi would

      be better so I’m glad I decided to specifically research the Orbi and iOS devices. So I’m keeping the eero and hoping the official release of iOS 11 brings some much needed stability. My MacBook Pro and even the iPad on 10.3.3 don’t have the same issues. Maybe we’re not far from a fix. 

      • mjrx20
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      mattv123 Just to chime in here - I'm not a Eero owner, but have a pair of Linksys wrt1900ac duel A/C routers configured so that both bands are on the same SSID on both devices.  Not mesh - but close enough for government work.

      Some short time ago (weeks/months, can't recall), I began to have the issue that everybody here is complaining about.  I've spent some hours troubleshooting and can confirm that my problem occurs when the IOS device moves from one AP to the next.  It only occurs on Apple devices (two 6S and a latest generation iPad Pro).  We have one Iphone 7 in the house that I haven't heard any complaints about yet, but it's in the pocket of a teenager who only remains stationary (sleeping) while home.  Android has no issue and no laptops have issues (all non-Mac).

      I was about to trash the whole rig and go with netgear, but they aren't immune either as far as I can tell. I've looked at a handful of popular top brands and it seems nobody doesn't have this issue or one similar to it.

      It's an IOS problem for sure - I'm on first generation 1900s and bought them when they first came out.  Long enough to not recall exactly how long that is.  The issues started on three devices simultaneously just recently and while looking for answers on the interwebs, I found this and a bunch of other threads suggesting the same thing - Apple hosed something.  Our problem devices are all running IOS 10.3.3 (search for "10.3.3 wifi" and you will feel not so alone), and I'm reasonably sure our problems started about the time that update was released (but am fuzzy on timeline, so can't be sure).  I see other complaints dating back to IOS 10.3.2 though, so maybe it was that one.  Either way, Apple released updates - Linksys did not, so...

      Anyway, I created this account just to say this because so many people seem irritated (as am I), but I think unfortunately barking up the wrong vendor's tree.

      • cleverdevil
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      mattv123 Extremely well said!

      While this certainly seems to be an iOS-specific issue, its an issue that I don't experience with my iOS devices on enterprise mesh networking gear at my offices, which use Unifi. Its entirely possible to solve this problem, its just that Eero hasn't figured it out, yet.

      I like Eero. The product has been great for me, until recently, and I like the company and their brand. They need to make this a bigger priority, and make it clear to customers that its a known issue that they're wanting to resolve.

      If they don't, Orbi, or one of the other consumer mesh networking solutions will.

      • jamiemcd
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Here is a review of the Amplifi HD from a former Eero owner who had the Apple devices connectivity issue. His report is that the issue is better with his Amplifi HD but not completely gone. So it does seem like the fault might lie with Apple’s code. 

      https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R3MHTANLGO9K3I/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B01L9O08PW 

      • Jd3913
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

        jamiemcd Been watching this thread as I currently own the Amplifi HD and started experiencing this issue. There was an update released by Ubiquiti Labs around the same time as 10.3.3. When I wasn't able to fix the issue with the Amplifi despite firmware downgrades, factory resets, etc., I started looking for alternatives and found eero. That was when I found this thread and held off on additional purchases until this gets straightened out.

      I initially was running an Amplifi HD with one Mesh point and removed the Mesh point after seeing that roaming might be part of the problem. Since I'm now running the Amplifi HD in router-only mode, there's no handing off occurring in my setup so I'm not certain that WiFi roaming is part of the problem but, I'm no expert in WiFi roaming either so please correct me if I'm wrong here. (Note that Amplifi HD, while it shares some engineering from the UniFi line of products, it does not share firmware with the UniFi line so performance of one will not imply the performance of another).

      I do have some UniFi equipment destined for a client that I might be able to setup and see if I have any different results. I'll report back if I do. 

    • Christorto
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Just purchased 6 eeros. System worked great for a week but all of a sudden my iphone and my wife's stopped working. They connected but do not pass traffic. All of our iPads, Macs, MacBooks work fine. I tried everything listed above but still not working. Very frustrating after spending almost $1k on a wifi system for the entire house. Any other thoughts here?

    • miamojo
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    There’s a “sister thread” on Reddit, and unlike the response I got from eero, advising me to return my system, an eero developer there said an eero-side fix is coming soon. Fingers crossed.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/eero/comments/6zgte9/with_ios_11_and_macos_high_sierra_release_around/

    • miamojo
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I’ve been on the GM final release of iOS 11 for one hour and moved around my house and haven’t had to toggle off WiFi a single time on my IPhone 7 Plus. That’s unprecedented, as I need to toggle

    every time I pick up the phone again if I put it down, so basically every few minutes. Fingers crossed this is fixed.

      • FlipABit
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      miamojo 

      Sounds promising! Keep us updated!

    • pclaar
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Nope. I upgraded to iOS 11 GM and my Wifi locked up within 10 minutes. iPhone 7 Plus.

    Hey Eero, if you're having trouble recreating this problem at your office, send a tech to my house. I live in the Seattle area. I'll even buy beer.

Content aside

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